Graduate Education in Australian Law Schools: Some Recent Developments. Centre for the Study of Higher Education Research Working Papers 93.10.

McInnis, Craig

This paper examines some of the factors currently shaping graduate coursework in legal education in Australia. There is some suggestion that the undergraduate law degree is likely to become more generalized and that specialization will occur at the graduate level with professional registration to follow. The shift from the somewhat insular and self-regulating culture of the Australian law school to a powerful mix of a state and market controlled environment has occurred in a very short space of time. The impact of graduate studies programs on the undergraduate degree is yet to be assessed as graduate courses become significant sources of income, differentiation, and status for the established schools. Developments in legal education open up several issues needing to be addressed: (1) the direct or indirect influence of the profession on legal education; (2) access to the legal profession in a mass higher education system; and (3) the question of who owns the curriculum. An appendix provides a list of the graduate courses offered at the Universities of Adelaide and Melbourne between 1987 and 1993. Contains 14 references. (GLR)